Kilkenny failed to take chances and kick on after second goal against Clare - Derek Lyng

Halfway through the All-Ireland semi-final and everything looked rosy for Kilkenny.

They had dominated the opening period and were five points up on Clare, 1-10 and 0-08, but the margin could have been twice that.

They had only hit four wides but Banner keeper Eibhear Quilligan pulled off saves to deny Cian Kenny, Adrian Mullen and Mikey Carey goals.

The Cats were left to rue their uncustomary lack of killer instinct as Clare came roaring back in the second half to win 0-24 to 2-16 and deny Kilkenny a third consecutive final appearance and second under Derek Lyng.

"When you're on top, you have to be scoring, you have to take your chances," the manager told RTÉ Sport.

"We had our spell when we were dominant. The last day [in the Leinster final against Dublin] we were very efficient, whereas today we probably weren't as efficient.

"I thought we were well on top in the first half. We looked very strong. In the second half, you know Clare are going to come at you. They come at you and they obviously got more points on the board today. Another couple of points obviously would have been a big help going in [at half-time] and at the end as well."

'In fairness to Clare, they won most of the battles and when you do that you deserve to come out winners'

Derek Lyng had no complaints after Clare's win over his Kilkenny side.

REPORT: https://t.co/JQ6ettpEq8 pic.twitter.com/QT8z6oFwmc

Kilkenny seemed to have caught Clare's kitchen sink and carried on, briefly pushing their lead back to six after raising a second green flag, from Billy Ryan, in the 47th minute.

But they only managed four more points after that, and failed to score in the final 15 minutes as their wides stacked up and Clare's forwards repeatedly found space and won possession.

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